Why image could explain Doohan disaster; early verdict over Red Bull switch

Jack Doohan walked away from a monster 331km/h crash during practice at the Japanese GP, now one image has shown what went wrong.

Jack Doohan said on Friday that missing FP1 at the Suzuka Circuit was just an opportunity for him to prove he was capable of “great things” with his back against the wall at one of F1’s most fearsome tracks.

He raised the bar considerably for himself by costing himself FP2 too.

Doohan was fortunate to walk away uninured from a monster crash on just his fifth lap of the day, his Alpine machine having left the road at 331 kilometres per hour before smacking into the barriers.

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The car looked like a write-off, but the winded Doohan was able to pull himself out of the wreckage in a visceral testament to the safety of modern Formula 1.

It’ll be a long, long night for his mechanics, however, and Doohan will be mighty sore come Saturday when he faces up to the mighty task of readying himself for qualifying at this unforgiving track.

The only tiny shred of consolation for Doohan is that there was almost no meaningful running in FP2 for any driver.

His crash took almost 25 minutes off the clock, while three subsequent red flags reduced the total green time to just 21 minutes over four windows, none of which measured longer than seven minutes.

That means no significant long runs and barely enough time to piece together even a representative qualifying simulation.

All 10 teams will have much work to do in FP3 to validate their set-up choices before qualifying.

It’ll be a busy hour, most of all for Doohan.

WHAT CAUSED THE CRASH?

Alpine was still looking at the data on Friday night, but video replays suggest the cause.

Doohan hits 331 kilometres per hour just as he tips his car into the right-handed turn 1 and it snaps from under him.

His DRS appears to be wide open.

The drag reduction system boosts acceleration and top speed by opening a flap on the rear wing around certain parts of the track, immediately slashing downforce.

It’s up to the driver to open it when they enter the designated zone. It closes automatically when a driver hits the brakes.

But at some circuits the DRS zone doesn’t lead into a big braking zone. In those cases it’s up to the driver to manually close their rear wing with enough time for the airflow to reattach and load the car with the downforce needed to take the corner.

Suzuka is one of those circuits, with the DRS zone down the front straight leading to a flat-out right-hander.

On-board replays show Doohan’s thumb reaching for his blue DRS button after turning onto the straight. The DRS light subsequently illuminates on the top-right corner of his steering wheel.

Jack Doohan's DRS light was still on when he attempted his turn.

He doesn’t appear to reach for the button before steering into turn 1, though the camera angle from behind Doohan’s helmet partially obscures the view.

It was Doohan’s first flying lap of the day, having had to give up his car in FP2 to Toyota-linked reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa.

It was a suboptimal call for the rookie at one of F1’s toughest circuits.

There were other potentially mitigating circumstances.

There’s been a stiff, gusting breeze blowing down the front straight all day as a tailwind that would have mercilessly blown Doohan off the road.

Cars have also been bottoming out into the compression of turn 1, which could also have unsettled the car.

But the primary culprit appears to be an open DRS. The question for Alpine and Doohan is whether this was a case of simple human error or something else.

McLAREN SETS THE PACE BUT WARY OF MERCEDES THREAT

McLaren topped both practice sessions, with Lando Norris leading the way in FP1 and Piastri taking the baton in FP2.

Norris snuck in his time before the third red flag, while Piastri squeezed in his effort just after it. Norris had time to respond, but his final sector was slow — around half a second slower than his best final split of the session — leaving him 0.049 seconds off the pace.

But it was one of those sessions in which everyone struggled to string together their three best sectors given the wind and disruptions, leaving Piastri optimistic about McLaren’s performance.

“With very gusty winds, it’s been a challenge,” he said. “Around here is somewhere where the wind really changes the balance a lot, and when it’s gusty like this, I don’t think you have the same car two laps in a row. It’s been a pretty trick day.

“But I think by the end of the day I felt reasonably comfortable.

“The pace is there, and I’m feeling confident we’ve got good pace for the rest of the weekend, but it’s still a little bit tricky at this point, so I think we’ve still got to be on our toes.”

Norris said he expected Mercedes to be his and Piastri’s closest challenger for pole position after George Russell ended up just 0.163 seconds off the pace in FP1.

“I still think we’re at the top, but George was very quick this morning, just as quick as us, so I think Mercedes is in a good place,” he said. “Maybe Red Bull looked a little bit further off, but they have looked further off until qualifying and then they get a bit closer again.

“I still expect it to be close and a tough battle tomorrow.”

Russell, for what it’s worth, was also sounding upbeat about the way his Mercedes took to Suzuka.

“It was a pretty positive day, to be honest,” he enthused. “The car’s been handling really nicely, and I’ve been pretty pleased with that.

“We’ve got to make sure it stays the same for tomorrow.

“The wind is a big factor … and tomorrow the wind’s going to shift 180 degrees, so that’s going to really change how the car’s feeling, but I’m confident we can be in the mix fighting for the front two rows.”

TSUNODA IMPRESSES IN FIRST RED BULL RACING OUTING

Yuki Tsunoda’s promotion to Red Bull Racing was the story of the week leading up to his home grand prix, and he didn’t disappoint in his first on-track session.

Tsunoda ended FP1 sixth in the classification and one place behind teammate Max Verstappen. The gap between them was just 0.107 seconds.

It’s the closest by a long way the second car has got to Verstappen in any session so far this season.

The 10-place gap between the two drivers in FP2 was down to Tsunoda not having time to get his flying lap in.

It looked like an immediate vindication of RBR’s decision to sub him into the team, even if it was only practice.

“FP1 was better than expected,” a measured Tsunoda said. “A good start for myself.

“I think there’s lots of work to do — I maybe slightly struggled or [there’s something that we have to look through data in FP2 more [for], but so far overall it’s okay, I just have to build up confidence more.”

Tsunoda had expected the car to feel different in real life to how it handled in the simulator, but the Japanese star said the difference between the virtual and actual RB21 cars was bigger than anticipated.

“It’s a bit different to the simulator, what I felt, to be honest,” he said. “A little bit more than I expected in terms of car feeling.

“It was just a little bit more exaggerated in the real car. It’s feeling a bit more tricky.”

But it was a tricky day for Red Bull Racing generally. Teammate Verstappen complained about his car flexing and warping too much in FP1 — a problem he said was a long-running one — and then chronic understeer in FP2.

“Today’s been quite difficult for me,” he said. “I’m just trying a lot of different things with he car, but it seems like a lot of things are not really clicking at the moment, and it’s quite difficult just to put the lap down.

“You need a lot of confidence and commitment around here, and at the moment I don’t feel like I can use that. We still have a bit of work to do.”

Red Bull Racing has a habit of bouncing back strongly on Friday night, but having had so little practice time leaves Milton Keynes perhaps more on the back foot than it does other teams that rolled out of pit lane in better shape.

But at least for now it can take heart in Tsunoda’s immediate delivery in tough circumstances.

Originally published as Why image could explain Doohan disaster; early verdict over Red Bull switch